


Being dead isn't all that bad

by Windfighter



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-12 10:18:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15993176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windfighter/pseuds/Windfighter
Summary: Tuuri is dead. She should be sleeping. She should be sleeping forever. And yet here she is. Awake. There's only one thing to do in other words:Adventuring around in the afterlife!How hard can it be?





	1. Meeting the swan

**Author's Note:**

> Got this stupid idea from one of Minna's stream and a duck in Emil's dreams. I can't claim to understand how my brain works. No plot, no point, so let's just see where this leads us!
> 
> Chapters will probably be kinda short. I say probably because I tend to think "this'll only be 2k words" and then end up with a 20k words long story so you never know. I have a few ideas for coming chapters but you know... feel free to come with suggestions of what Tuuri can do in her afterlife and I'll see if I can work it in!
> 
> Rambling now so let's get this party started!

Tuuri opens her eyes, blinks. She doesn't need to wonder where she is, her memories are too clear already. Tuonela. The land of eternal sleep. She sits up, stretches and looks around. The ice covering her has thawed, but the people around her are still sleeping, still covered. She shouldn't be awake, she knows that much. Did death awaken her hidden magic powers? She giggles at the thought. It doesn't work like that.

She shouldn't be awake and for a moment she considers lying down again, considers trying to go back to sleep. But she is wide awake and there is no way she will be able to go back to sleep. Instead she stands up and leaves her bed. She almost slips on the ice, but steadies herself. She used to walk on the ice all the time before they moved to Keuruu, every time the lakes froze and she managed to sneak away from Onni long enough to go on an adventure. It was always Lalli who found her.

She walks across the ice, avoids stepping on the sleeping people's faces. She knows they can't feel it, but it still feels disrespectful. Some of the faces are people she recognize. Friends and people she passed by during markets during the autumns. She stops by one of them and falls to her knees. Her hands clean the ice, dusts the snow off it. A young girl Tuuri will never forget – her first crush. She had known of her fate, but seeing her frozen in the ice finally makes it sink in. She clenches her hands in her lap as tears fills her eyes.

”What-”

Tuuri freezes. Is someone else awake? The voice sounds like ice, cold and dangerous yet inviting and Tuuri doesn't dare to move.

”Why are you awake?!”

The voice reaches a higher note with each syllable and it cuts through Tuuri, makes her shiver. One second later the face of a swan presses against Tuuri's and she backs away.

”Go back to sleep right now!”

”I... I can't.”

The swan shakes its head, touches its beak with its wing.

”I don't have time for this, there are souls to collect. You really shouldn't be awake.”

”I didn't mean to.”

The swan stretches its wings to its sides, and Tuuri slides another inch backwards.

”Do you have any idea how much paperwork this will cause me?!”

It flaps its wings, snow and small shards of ice hits Tuuri in the face and then the swan calms down again.

”It can't be helped I guess. Don't touch anything. I'll deal with you when I get back.”

Tuuri watches as the swan takes flight and leaves. Her legs tremble as she gets back on her feet and she almost slips on the ice again. She looks back towards her bed, considers crawling back down just so she won't have to find out what the swan will do to her. Consider it only for a moment but curiousity runs in her veins and instead she moves towards a more rocky area. From there she will be able to see the swan returning and who will be coming with it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously I chose to write in present tense because that's what I always write in and the only tense I'm good at.  
>  Okay no, I suck at it. Haha, I will make so many mistakes since I always write in past tense. But it'll be an exciting experiment!
> 
> Anyway yes, that was the first chapter. Very awesome chapter. There was a couple of sentences I was supposed to have in it but I forgot them. Maybe I'll use them in a later chapter instead. I may end up writing another story about That Time Tuuri Got Lost On The Ice And Lalli Had To Fetch Her unless someone else gets to that before I'm able to.  
>  Hope you enjoyed the first chapter and we'll see if we can figure out what'll happen in the next chapter!


	2. That's a lot of paperwork

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The afterlife might sound like an exciting place, but it really is a mess of bureaucracy.

”You really shouldn't be awake”, the swan explains as Tuuri follows it towards its desk. ”It isn't according to protocol. And it has only happened twice before.”

”I swear I didn't mean to wake up.”

”You mortals never do, and it's always a pain when it happens.”

The swan's wing slides across its neck and it lets out a sigh.

”I'm going to have to file a report and there will be investigations and I'll have to apply for permission to put you back to sleep if you can't manage it yourself... I don't have time for this.”

”I can help!”

Tuuri isn't interested in the paperwork, not really. She is dead, supposed to be free of the bureaucracy of the living world, but she is still curious about the paperwork of the gods. Is it different? Do they write in her language or do they have their own? The swan lets out another sigh and gestures towards a workroom without walls and roof.

”That is... a lot of paperwork.”

Tuuri's eyes glances across the papers spread across the ground, at the piles that has tipped over and haven't been sorted again. At the binders that has been pulled from the bookcases and promptly dropped to the floor.

”There are probably better ways to organize your paperwork you know.”

”I know”, the swan hisses. ”You think I haven't tried? You think I have time? Do you realize how _hard_ it is to hold papers with these wings?! But by all means”, the swan gestures towards the mess, ”if you want to help feel free to clean it up.”

The swan waddles through the pappers to the desk, rips papers apart with its webbed feet. Tuuri can hear it mutter under its breath but can't make out the words. She stares at the papers for a while, how long she can't tell because time seems to pass differently here. She tries to figure out where to start, but feels overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff. Then she straightens her back. She offered her help and she will not back down on her word.

”So... you said this has happened twice before?” she asks while picking up the binders.

”I am not here to entertain you with stories, mortal.”

”Do you have a name?”

Tuuri puts the binders in the bookcase. They're all empty but years have been written on their backs. The swan picks something up from the desk but drops it again.

”Because The Swan of Tuonela is a handful. My name is Tuuri by the way, but for some reason I assume you already know that!”

”My name isn't of your concern.”

The swan's voice is a lot less icy now, a lot softer, and Tuuri looks at it again, compares it to the swans she saw back in Finland. The swan of Tuonela is a lot bigger, the air around it vibrates, but apart from that there aren't many differences. The beak is equally yellow with the black marking in front and its plumage white. It looks soft, but Tuuri understands better than to touch it. It glares at Tuuri and Tuuri blushes, starts gathering the papers. She figures her first order of business should be getting them out of the way so the swan doesn't rip them any more.

Perhaps she is mistaken, but it looks like the swan is smiling as she gathers the papers and puts them by the bookcase.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the most exciting chapter, I admit. Don't worry, I'm not going to bore you with more paperwork next chapter. Well, okay, maybe a little. Okay I'm not going to make any promises. She will get to exploration soon enough though!


End file.
